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At 11/7/06 09:55 PM, liljim wrote: Changing usernames just for the sake of holidays doesn't cut it with me.

Wait, do you want us tu bribe you?

*Hands liljim 5 bucks

Ok, we didn't talk.

Well on myspace and youtube you can change your url whenever you want. Surely their coding isn't that advanced? If not why not just set up a deadline day where people have to have stick with thier names after that? I'm it won't bother too many people, and of course there'll be complaints on the forums but that's all forums are anyway, complaints. Do it Tom, userpages would really kick ass. It would be so much better than linking people to a search result that doesn't always work. Also while I'm here would it be too much to ask for some way of sorting people's flashes by the date they were made? It's always nice to see how an animator has progressed.

At 11/7/06 10:11 PM, liljim wrote: In my opinion, GamesCool is better than DFox. People remember you (I'm talkig about the hundreds of thousands who DON'T voice their opinions, either way) by your initial username. You might have lost fans (or at least their association with you are) by changing names.

Oops (didn't know I had fans) :) Maybe I made a mistake, but it's too late to turn back, and personally I prefer DFox. It's short, and like my real name.

Anyway, about people being know by their initial usernames, I'll take your word for it as you know better than be. Hopefully the people who outgrow names and want to change will be the minority. I mean I think you're defined more by who you are on this BBS rather than your name, which is the way it should be, so I guess changing the name you made when you were younger isn't a biggie.

Either way, I'm sure the coolness of user pages will greatly outweigh not being able to change your username. Personally, I can't wait. I despise MySpace, so having a user page on one of my favorite sites will be awesome.

At 11/7/06 10:21 PM, Doki wrote: Well on myspace and youtube you can change your url whenever you want. Surely their coding isn't that advanced? If not why not just set up a deadline day where people have to have stick with thier names after that?

I highly doubt coding is the issue. The only issue is the change in URLs would throw off people and links that were previously created before the name change. Also, looking at what MySpace does is just pointless as it's such a poorly designed site.

I think you should just give us a 30 day deadline or something to change names. If that be the case then, can we take dibs on the names that inactive users have?

It's obvious by now that many users don't like the idea of a username lockdown. But personally, it doesn't bother me in the slightest since my username has pretty much always remained the same and is the same for any site I goto and makes me more recognizeable that way since people see "Vegeton" and know that it's me and not someone else. I support all your decisions through and through Tom, even if at times they shake the foundations of NG.

actually it would be a good idea to just restrict it, i mean if i really wanna change my user name, I'll just create a new account.Not that i have changed it in all the years I've been here. well once when i accidentally put in a wrong email address when i was changing the password, and back then you had to confirm through the email or something wierd, and i was never able to login. By the way if there's anyway to fix that , it would be kinda cool to have my original user name

"sintech" you can pm me if it's possible to open that again <wink wink>

that and i have 1 alt account

At 11/6/06 08:26 PM, TomFulp wrote: Consider this post a sort of heads up... There's a chance your name might go on lockdown, so be sure it's the name you want to have. This is also a chance for everyone to share their opinions concerning this course of action. Go for it.

I support the name lock down.

Well Tom I definitely don’t have a problem with the user name change locking but I have a question. If you guys are managing the sit on a database with a web interface cant you make something else the primary key in the database? I mean if you’re using a relational database we can be given a user ID and create a relationship to that ID. Like on myspace.com my user name is Lupedog but my myspace site is myspace.com/webmasterluke, it was not set up that way I chose it. If we were given that same choice as to chose our site front name then have to stick to that name then we could still change our alias freely.

Just a question?

At 11/7/06 11:12 PM, lupedog wrote: Just a question?

I'm not Tom, but I am a programmer. You're pretty much over complicating the problem. On your MySpace, webmasterluke is associated with your user id, OK, fine. But if that relational username or address or whatever you'd like to call it changes, then that old name is not pointing or relating to your user id any longer because it either doesn't exist in the address table or is occupied and relating to another user id, because only the new name is. Sure, you can store every old name and keep the relation for each to the user id, but that would be absurd being you could have a ton of names and they would become to scarce.

But tom.....

What about BantaClaus?

Changing your name is a bonus to newground users everywhere but if its just going to cause a big problem with the urls then don't allow it.

My user name is awesome.

if you gave people enough warning i think it would be okay but that is a great feature on newgrounds to be able to change your name but it is not crucial the benifits of the new system probably outway the ability to change your name. im sure there is some clever way to solve this problem but none are going to work to well there ias probably going to be a whole lot of mess if you try to do both with either broken links or too many "this page has moved pages" and that will just suck.
no name change= a okay

I really haven't got a problem with it.

I guess ultimately I agree with a lockdown because I realize how annoying/pointless name changes are. I still still can't help to think that I could potentially have a better name (which is Dopefish btw... it holds a lot of sentimental value :P) if the opportunity arose.

Whatever happens in the end, I think that people will support it. I love Newgrounds too much to bitch and moan about necessary changes. I'm also a bit drunk at the moment, but all that aside, I support whatever happens and I'm seriously looking forward to this update. Good luck sorting things out you guys.

wait a minute... you mean to tell me we could always change our names?!?!? 0.o

why wasnt i ever informed of this? ah well... its not like i wanna change my name anyway. i have history with this name on this site. its the first site i ever joined and the only name ive ever used on any other site ever. i couldnt change it even if i wanted to cause it also has symbolic newgrounds history. its like a statue of a long dead king! you just cant change it!

All I’m saying is that almost every user on NG has an industry name, you do, "Orange Fox Games", and I do, "Timothy Lane Studios." I think that since Tom is thinking in the direction of dynamic user pages, I think that he could make them less dependant on the user names and more dependent on a subsidiary site name that we can pick, and that would have to bee locked, not necessarily the username.

I won't have a problem because I never change mine, but for those who do, could it be optional to have the profile page in the old format where it was lnked to their ID and not their username?

Thank you someone gets what I’m trying to say, having the ID our primary key not the username. If the primary key is nonvolatile then everything else came relate in the rest of the database. If you know anything about databases you can create a ID that would control the record, the name that could be changed would liked to that ID, and after that the sub site could also be linked to the ID not the name.

At 11/8/06 01:35 AM, lupedog wrote: Thank you someone gets what I’m trying to say, having the ID our primary key not the username. If the primary key is nonvolatile then everything else came relate in the rest of the database. If you know anything about databases you can create a ID that would control the record, the name that could be changed would liked to that ID, and after that the sub site could also be linked to the ID not the name.

You're talking about database structuring 101, but you're not addressing the issue. If I understand what you're saying, you're saying have two URLs, like 590188.newgrounds.com and dfox.newgrounds.com... That would work, but what if I plaster the link dfox.newgrounds.com all over the internet? Also, no one wants their user id as their URL, as you can't remember it.

That’s not what I’m saying, I’m saying like myspace.com you pick your sub site "myspace.com/webmasterluke," my username is not webmasterluke, its lupedog. After I had my name established I created a sub site and that sub site name is linked to my user ID and my user ID is linked to my username. So ultimately my page would not be, "24875.newgrounds.com" or "lupedog.newgrounds.com" but in fact "Timothylanestudios.newgrounds.com." Now on that note I am done arguing with DFox.

Just think about this, you could keep your username as Dfox but our personal sub site could be, "orangefoxgames.newgrounds.com"

DO WAT YOU WANT ITS YOUR SITE PEOPLE WILL LIKE IT NO MATTER WAT HAPPENS

I really don't want to loose the ability. It has come really handy in the past and it beats making a new username because an old username sucks.

you should make a request link on the site so people can ask for their username to be changed, so you can change it manually and like do a page fowarder or something.... but maybe that wont work, you do whatever you feel like, personally i dont really think we need our own username adresses but if you want

At 11/6/06 08:26 PM, TomFulp wrote: We've been faced with a dilemma for a while now that doesn't have any great solution. With the eventual introduction of user pages, user URLs will become much more prominent destinations. For example, I'm hoping lots of people will check out tomfulp.newgrounds.com once it comes into existence. :)

The question is... Do we allow users to change their names at this point? If you change your name, you are essentially changing your URL, meaning all existing links to your page will become dead links.

It has never been a problem in the past because the profile URL is based on your unique ID #. Since user pages will be tied to your name, the only option is to make your name a permanent identifier, otherwise users could create dead links at will and it would make the site a lot less organized over time.

I get this bad feeling that people will totally freak out at the thought of not being able to change their names. Plenty of sites already don't allow you to change your name, but people are accustomed to the option here on NG. Then again, are name changes really necessary or is it a feature that people abuse in the first place?

Consider this post a sort of heads up... There's a chance your name might go on lockdown, so be sure it's the name you want to have. This is also a chance for everyone to share their opinions concerning this course of action. Go for it.

I personally think this whole idea is stupid.

Newgrounds is a site based solely on undiscovered flash authors been given the chance to showcase their flash to a web audience of thousands, you're wanting to turn it into some kind of fucked up myspace dude.

Newgrounds is original, that's why it prospered, myspace was also original, i just think this idea of users having their personal spaces is kind of stupid and defeats the point of ng.

At 11/8/06 02:15 AM, lupedog wrote: That’s not what I’m saying, I’m saying like myspace.com you pick your sub site "myspace.com/webmasterluke," my username is not webmasterluke, its lupedog. After I had my name established I created a sub site and that sub site name is linked to my user ID and my user ID is linked to my username. So ultimately my page would not be, "24875.newgrounds.com" or "lupedog.newgrounds.com" but in fact "Timothylanestudios.newgrounds.com." Now on that note I am done arguing with DFox.

Just think about this, you could keep your username as Dfox but our personal sub site could be, "orangefoxgames.newgrounds.com"

Newgrounds is one of the largest sites on the internet, to think that they created a database with the PK set as a username and not an id is crazy. Of course that's the way it is, haven't you viewed our profile pages before?

Anyway what you're saying is certainly possible, but as James replied, is it really going to be worth the effort? You now have two names to associate with one id, when someone wants to change their name or sign up both names have to be checked to make they don't conflict with every one else's double names. And for what? so you can add 'lol' in your name for a couple weeks?

At 11/8/06 03:10 AM, Error wrote: I personally think this whole idea is stupid.

Newgrounds is a site based solely on undiscovered flash authors been given the chance to showcase their flash to a web audience of thousands, you're wanting to turn it into some kind of fucked up myspace dude.

Newgrounds is original, that's why it prospered, myspace was also original, i just think this idea of users having their personal spaces is kind of stupid and defeats the point of ng.

What better way for those artists to get discovered than to have a comprehensive page that lists all of their creations? Our profile pages are a sort of 'personal page.' So just think of it as a greatly enhanced profile. That make it better?

At 11/8/06 03:48 AM, Afro-Ninja wrote: What better way for those artists to get discovered than to have a comprehensive page that lists all of their creations? Our profile pages are a sort of 'personal page.' So just think of it as a greatly enhanced profile.

As long as people won't be allowed to flood it with pictures of their cat, I'm all for it.